Vanessa Hudson (executive)

Vanessa Hudson (born 1969 or 1970) is an Australian business executive and CEO of Qantas since 2023, having first joined the company in 1994. Since joining the airline, Hudson has been in a variety of senior positions, culminating in 2023 when she was announced as the company's next CEO to succeed Alan Joyce in November 2023. Hudson was set to become the first female CEO of Qantas. On 5 September 2023, it was announced Joyce would quit early following revelations the company may have continued to sell tickets for flights that had already been cancelled, with Hudson taking over the following day.

Career
Hudson graduated from the University of Technology Sydney in 1991 with a Bachelor of Business. In 1994, she was admitted as a Member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants Australia. After working in external audits at Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu for two years, Hudson joined Qantas in 1994 as an internal audit supervisor. Then she became finance controller in the commercial division of Qantas.

In 1997, she was appointed as the catering product manager before being elevated to the role of executive manager of product and services in 2005. As Qantas's executive manager of commercial planning, Hudson was called as a witness at an emergency Fair Work Australia hearing into the 2011 Qantas industrial disputes which affected thousands of airline passengers.

Hudson relocated to Los Angeles in 2013 upon her appointment as the senior vice-president of the American arm of Qantas. She returned to Australia in 2016 after becoming the company's executive manager of sales and distribution. In 2018, Hudson was one of the judges to help name the Australian Financial Review "100 Women of Influence".

In February 2018, she was appointed as chief customer officer before becoming the chief financial officer of the Qantas Group. As chief financial officer, Hudson was required to navigate a number of challenges that Qantas faced, including Perth Airport's legal action against the airline in 2018 which was ultimately resolved in the Supreme Court of Western Australia. Further challenges Hudson encountered included the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russian invasion of Ukraine which affected global oil prices prompting the airline to implement a hedging strategy. In May 2023, it was announced that Hudson would succeed Alan Joyce as the chief executive officer of Qantas, becoming the first woman to lead the company.

Her official appointment as Qantas CEO was initially set to occur at the conclusion of Joyce's 15-year tenure at the annual general meeting in November 2023, although her appointment was expedited following Joyce's early departure in September.

Personal life
Hudson is married with two adult daughters.